Paypal-ing International Development

[acmejack]

Can you spare $25 bucks? Thanks to a new nonprofit, a few clicks of the mouse lets you loan it to a small business
halfway across the world.

Benna Oboth is a widow in Tororo, Uganda, who cares for her eight children by buying cereal grain in bulk and selling it at the village market. Nearby, in the town of Soroti, Gregory Eliau takes care of five children -- left to him by his brother who died of AIDS -- by buying and selling cows. Elizabeth Omalla, a widow with seven children, is a fishmonger who gets her fish from Lake Victoria and sells to a middleman in town. She's hoping that soon she will be able to set up a shop of her own.

These three small business owners owe their success to Kiva (www.kiva.org), a recently launched web-based non-profit that allows peer-to-peer (p2p) microloans. Kiva's p2p network enables ordinary people to loan small sums of money through PayPal to needy individuals without interference from a bank or microfinance institution (MFI). For the first time, anyone can make a loan of as little at $25 to an indigent entrepreneur in East Africa. In only a few weeks, the rapidly expanding website has facilitated enough microloans to fund over 30 businesses in Uganda, revolutionizing the concept of microcredit.

http://www.alternet.org/story/29345/

[Arkansas Granny]

1. I saw something on TV not too long ago about these small loans.

It was a different group that was making these loans, primarily to women. It allowed them to support their families and to improve entire communities. In most cases, the money was paid back in a very short time and the money repaid was used to loan to others. What a wonderful idea and a great way to really make a difference. I'll certainly be looking into this.

[eridani]

2. Crosspost to Activism also

This very useful link is going to get buried otherwise.